Windows 7 upgrade coupon plan gets detailed, said to be starting soon
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 12th 2009 3:42PM
posted June 12th 2009 3:42PM
We've already gotten word of a few Windows 7 upgrade plans, but it looks like things are now really starting to get fleshed out, even if nothing's quite official just yet. According to PC World, at least some PC vendors will be kicking off a coupon program on June 26th, which will let folks that buy premium versions of Windows Vista upgrade to Windows 7 when it rolls out this fall. As you might expect, however, things won't be completely consistent across the board, and it won't be a free upgrade in every case either. That's partly because vendors will reportedly have to shell out between $9 and $15 per PC to include the upgrade coupon, although at least three unnamed Taiwanese PC makers will apparently be taking a hit on that cost and offering a free upgrade coupon to anyone that buys a laptop or desktop loaded with Vista Home Premium, Ultimate or Business. HP is also said to be participating in the upgrade program, although it says it won't be revealing any details until Microsoft itself officially announces the start date for the program.
NICE!!! I just bought a brand new HP Laptop... hopefully I get the upgrade for free, been testing Windows 7 for a few months now and its SWEET!
sorry Derrick but I don't think it works like that. Anyways, this is great for college students who need to buy a laptop before school starts in September
Any PC sold with Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate between June 26th and the Windows 7 launch day (October 22nd) will be eligible for a free upgrade to Win7. (if you don't mind buying from BB)
Any computer loaded with Vista bought after July 1st anywhere will be eligible for free upgrade to 7.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9125060
Why not just wait 5 days and not get one from Best Buy?
I think there could be a huge market for these to be sold by people who are fine with vista, so maybe you could look at buying one of those, which 9-15 dollars is far cheaper than the msrp of win 7
no derrick, no WIndows 7 free upgrade for you. You should have been reading the blogs cause you just got screwed.
I have my eye on an hp, but I won't be buying until I know for sure I get an upgrade.
Would be nice if us scorned Ultimate buyers got some decent discount.
I have 64 Ultimate... how are we "scorned?"
Been running 64bit Ultimate for 6 months, never one issue. Runs great.
We were promise lots of Ultimate extras, granted i am pretty happy with vista, spesh now im on 64bit, but they really didnt deliver on the extras we paid extra money for.
Oh, right.
I got the system builders edition so it was basically the same price as all of the others. I can see how you'd be pissed if you paid $350 though.
I have 64 bit Ultimate and love it. Theres no way im upgrading.
It's been over a year... never any issues, so why waste money?
I've been tortured with Vista Ultimate Crap since the very first week it came out. Missing drivers. Broken drivers. Bad drivers. Constant HD freezes (every few minutes or so my HD "locks" for about 60 seconds; yeah, it makes one totally insane). Total system freezes. 6+ minute boot times. 3+ minute shut down times. 20 seconds to load IE8; 10 seconds for a new IE8 tab; Hardware non-recognition (e.g., Vista Ultimate Crap wouldnt recognize a MICROSOFT lifecam). Constant resetting of printer port each time I restart system and want to be crazy and print something.
After the utter NIGHTMARE that has been Vista Ultimate Crap, I better get some dang discount!
2.8GHz intel dual core ; 4GB RAM; 320GB HD; MS said that system was "adequate" for Vista Ultimate Crap, boy were they wrong!
Yeah, I bought ultimate.
I recently gave up and switched to XP, and i wish i could get my damn money back, or at least a heavily discounted upgrade.
I hope that happens.
-Taylor
@DigDug:
With all those problems one might think it's your fault your computer wasn't working properly.
@Ellianth: I've had a similar experience. It takes Vista forever to be usable after coming back from sleep. It ocassionally just behaves weird and I need to restart it. Sometimes the remote (MS branded) will repeat commands on me -- up 3 times for one button push. Among many other issues. For some reason MC takes 5 or 6 seconds to refresh the list of folders that contain media, even though that hasn't changed in months. It's Vista 64 Ultimate. I find it almost unusable. I'm just glad it was free.
Ya Hardware issues are vistas fault i forgot
@ JWC and DigDug
You have the same exact copy of Windows as others do who have great experience so you can't really blame Windows itself but whoever are the manufactures of you driver hardware. Bad istallations and Windows Update issues can cause problems but if you can't get an installation that works well, it is probably the hardware you have that is causing the issues. I used Vista on my computer that I built a year before Vista's release and didn't have any major issues. There were some bugs but they got fixed over time and pretty quickly. Make sure you drivers are up-to-date and watch what you install.
Who vomited on the desktop?
If that's what your vomit looks like, you need to watch what you're eating.
@ DirtyVegas
Never said it was my vomit....
He never said you said it was your vomit.
I actually think it's pretty nice.
Where can i get the wallpaper??
This is your vomit.
This is your vomit on LSD.
@rob : someone piss in your iCheerios today?
...noob
If my vomit looked like that id be bulimic just because it would be awesome.
@Just some girl
You can get it there, with the other 7 RC wallpapers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/embee/sets/72157617274401628/
That is a truly disgusting wallpaper. I agree. Foul. FAIL.
I love it when Win 7 posts get that image -- its so... pretty.
Maybe we could get the government involved in this "coupon" thing, then surely it would mean "free".
suprised the applers have not invade this thread yet.
Why would we? We are happy with our OS.
@aaron
So when many other Apple fans "invade" Windows, Zune, XBOX, etc. threads, they are not happy with their OS? Paul, Jubei, etc. must be ***REALLY*** unhappy with OSX, iPod, iPhone, etc.
@Nohone
It isn't our fault MS has typically made inferior products (excludes Xbox 360). Win7, however, looks promising. But if they are seriously going to charge its customers for what is essentially "Vista Fixed" don't you think MS zealots deserve what they get?
Nice way of confining the appletards to one thread man! I might use this tactic in the future
@Shotgun
If OSX was so perfect, why are they releasing Snow Leopard? Why do they constantly release 500+MB service packs? Why would I have problems just connecting my Mac to a monitor using DVI when it works perfectly fine using VGA (see my comment from a few days ago)? The Apple forums are full of problems, from the problem I had with DVI, to overheating, defective video, defective touch pads, and so on, and so on. And people are expected to pay for Snow Leopard. Even TUAW, the source for all Apple apologies, just ran an article talking about how, with the latest update, is causing crashes, losing sound, and more (http://www.tuaw.com/2009/06/11/is-the-mac-os-x-10-5-7-update-causing-you-grief/).
When Apple charges money for drivers to enable features people bought and paid for (Wireless N), when Apple charges for bug fixes (iPod Touch, which is not getting any real new features - can't use the compass, can't use voice recording, can't use MMS, can't use tethering, improved camera, faster processor, and so on) the "Apple zealots" yell about how cheap people are for not wanting to pay for bug fixes or updated drivers and bring up SOX, but if that were true, then Microsoft should be dragged into court because they do not charge for Zune updates. Why are you not complaining about those charges, but complaining about charges for Win7?
Windows has problems, Mac has problems. Get over it, and demand the best from all companies, but don't criticize one without criticizing the other. And as for these problems with Vista, tell us the personal problems you had. Don't do a search on the web for problems others have had, or problems that people have told you about, but problems you, personally, have encountered. Haven't used Vista? Figures.
In this article you have also complained that Win7 does not have a new kernel. How many times has Apple changed the MACH kernel in OSX? FYI, Win7 has an updated version of the MinWin kernel.
I'm... impressed.
I've never seen someone actually start an OS pissing war by complaining that no one from the OTHER camp is making a fuss...
Which then starts said OS pissing war.
Nicely done.
I think....
I wouldn't mind paying $9 - $15 for the upgrade but somehow I doubt that deal will be passed onto us consumers.
How about those of us that beta tested that thing called Vista? Where is the love MS?
SP2, it's free.
well I beta Tested Vista then ran the RC and Bought Vista Ultimate.... Used it for two Months and went back to XP ... Now running Windows 7 64bit RC and Its great ... first time I've ever installed a New Windows O/S and had the computer Speed-up Instead of Slowing to a Crawl ... I'm an IT Manager and we will Be swithcing all workstations over to Windows 7 In the Fall.. excellent package
What I wonder is if there is a Windows XP upgrade discount.
I'm happy to say I'll be getting a coupon for 7 Ult. x64. For free. It's great working at BBY.
Your standards are incredibly low.
Will that work for upgrade only or can we wipe the disk and do a fresh install (much better)?
should work the same way as vista unless MS somehow added some security so you can no longer use upgrade disc to full install.
MS made upgrades a bit more of a pain in the ass in Vista already and I would expect them to stay in 7. Basically you have to have the OS you are going to upgrade from already installed, but you can do a clean wipe of the drive in the install and basically get a clean install out of the process. This was a change from the prior method (XP and older) where you just had to provide the old OS install disc during the upgrade install to validate the "upgrade" license but could install to an already bare drive.
Hey, I bought System Builder's Edition of Vista Ultimate 32-bit. What do I get? Do I really have to pay full price to get Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit? Apple is offering OS upgrades for $29. It's totally a shot at MS. They better make Windows 7 cheap, or they'll come out of this worse than they came out of Vista itself.
Snow Leopard is only $29 because there aren't really that many new features to warrant a full priced update.. oh wait.. maybe that is a shot at MS.. it's suddenly all so clear now LOL
can't wait